Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Laying Down Tracks

I’ve been doing some recording. Finally. I have a hard earned set up for recording my songs so I can at least try to submit them to publishers. And I have to say that it’s really been fun so far. I have great friends helping me lay down the tracks, and they are doing a fantastic job. Things are going very slow, but fairly smooth. I only have a few hours a week to work on this stuff.

When you commit yourself to recording, and doing it as right as possible, it is also very hard work. You have to listen to it over and over ad nauseam. And you have to be very precise. You discover very quickly what your limitations are, as long as you have the ears to hear it. The recording doesn’t lie. It doesn’t try to flatter you. If what you played is good, it tells you that. If what you played is off, it tells you that. It is totally honest.

Kind of like a good friend. Maybe.

There are times in the process when I wish the recording would just be better than it is. I wish it would lie to me. I want to hit playback and somehow that fret buzz would disappear or that note would be spot on instead of being slightly off. But it IS slightly off, so I do it again. Almost there. Slightly off again in a different spot. Do it again. Slightly off somewhere else. Arrrrrrrrrrge!

Sure, there are tools for smoothing things out, and even the best of the pros use them, but they cost MONEEEY. And usually lots of it. But the thing is, there has to be some talent and precision there in the first place or you just end up with a mess no matter what. And don’t even get me started on what it takes to actually write a “good” song. Despite what you may have heard, the music business is not full of talentless people who are manufactured into presentability by studio tricks. Small imperfections and issues can be smoothed out, but garbage in almost always equals garbage out.

Kind of like life.

Some of the people working with me are in other bands that you might like. Check ‘em out if you’re interested...

My friend Greg is in a great cover band called “Ultra Violet.” They play around town. He also has a band called “Strawberry Alternative” doing his own songs. You can check that out here...

strawberryalternative.com

My friend Tom is in a few bands too. The one that plays out a lot is called “A Hundred Miles.” You can check them out at...

ahundredmilesmusic.com




Peace to you.


© LW Publishing 2010

1 comment:

  1. Thank God! Finally!! I have been wanting this for as many years as I've known you and your music, my anointed friend. :-)

    ReplyDelete

All comments are subject to my approval. All profanity and disrespectful comments will be deleted. Be nice or I will pretend you are not there.